MassChrom® Methylmalonic Acid in Serum/Plasma and Urine - LC-MS/MS

Clinical relevance

Methylmalonic acid (MMA) is an early, sensitive biomarker of vitamin B₁₂ deficiency. Vitamin B₁₂ deficiency leads to high concentrations of MMA in plasma, serum and urine. MMA is much more suitable for diagnosing a subclinical vitamin deficiency than the measurement of vitamin B₁₂ itself, which is bound to various  proteins in the blood and is significantly more unstable. Furthermore, MMA is a more sensitive biomarker, which indicates vitamin B₁₂ deficiency earlier.

Vitamin B₁₂ deficiency that remains untreated for years can lead to many clinical symptoms. Neurological and physical disorders have been observed, as well as anaemia and pregnancy complications up to miscarriages. Together with vitamin B₆ and folic acid, vitamin B₁₂ also plays a role in Alzheimer’s disease. Therefore, early determination of the MMA level and early treatment can prevent certain diseases and irreversible neurological damages.

Product advantages

• Clean-Up Tubes for fast processing of plasma and serum samples
• Direct injection of urine samples after dilution
• Chromatographic separation of succinic acid
• 3PLUS1® Multilevel Calibrator Sets for plasma and urine

This Chromsystems kit allows the specific determination of methylmalonic acid in plasma, serum and urine. The use of special clean-up tubes enables removing interfering compounds fast and effectively. The isobaric succinic acid is separated chromatographically to prevent false-positive test results. A stable isotopically labelled internal standard is used to ensure reliable quantification. Matrix effects are minimised and the precision and robustness of the method are optimised. The human-based 3PLUS1^® multilevel plasma and urine calibrators ensure high precision of the results.

Please see accessories for the additional urine upgrade set.